Machinery Focus: Buying a Bomford hedge

The demand for hedge-cutters is increasing annually as farmers get to appreciate tidy hedgerows and councils become ever more fussy about verges being kept trim.

Bomford Turner Ltd., of Worcestershire, is one of the leading manufactures supplying this market and its road tour recently called in at Corbetts of Mallow, Co. Cork, which carries the brand for the Munster region.

Bomford Turner was formed as Bomford and Evershed back in 1904 at Pershore. Its roots go back even further to the late 19th century and Benjamin Bomford who was a progressive tillage farmer in the region, and a pioneer of the steam plough.

This interest in mechanisation stayed with the family and the company they created has continued producing implements for tillage farmers until the present day.

The largest part of the business is now hedge trimmers which they have been making since the 1940s, with the present range offering a choice and sophistication to match any other brand.

Like many implements hedge-trimmers were once fairly simple affairs, but that has all changed, and the range and abilities of what is now on offer has grown considerably, even over the last 20 years.

When looking to buy a hedge-cutter there are two or three basic questions to be asked, the first, as always, is just what will it be required to do and how much time is there to do it?

Machines are classified in several ways, one of which is the motor horse power. This is not the power of the tractor, but the hydraulic motor on the head which turns the rotor.

The smallest Bomford trimmer has a 30hp unit, while the largest has an 85hp motor. Most of the trimmers sold to farmers, as opposed to specialised contractors, are either 60hp or 74hp.

The larger the motor, the quicker it will cut, and so the faster the tractor can proceed, enabling more to be cut, or less time taken in cutting if manpower is tight.

The next question is what tractor is available to mount it upon. The power available is not normally the problem, it is the mass of the tractor and how stable a platform it will make, which are the important factors.

Bomford is able to offer advice on this, recommending the machines which can be safely handled by specific models of tractor. Tractors can also be ballasted, giving an extra margin of security.

There is a trade off in that although larger tractors offer more stability and can therefore handle a faster trimmer, their weight might shorten the window in which they can operate on headlands.

The third item is budget, a thorny question whenever buying machinery. Bomford however, insists that the trade-in value of its machines remains high and so customers should consider the lifetime cost rather than just the purchase price.

Smaller, and less well appointed machines will be cheaper, but they may have limitations that go beyond the limits of reach and capacity.

The siting of the hydraulic motor is a case in point, with budget-friendly heads, it is mounted directly on to the end of the rotor shaft. More sophisticated heads have it mounted on the head body, driving the motor via three V belts.

This latter arrangement keeps the motor out of the way of the work, reduces the risk of damage, protects the drive train from sudden shock and allows an alteration in rotor speed by the simple expedient of swapping the pullies around.

Connecting the tractor to the head is the arm itself, and this has a good deal of permutations, all of which will affect the price and functionality of the trimmer.

There are four main upgrades to the standard arm and various lesser options besides.

Starting at the lower end of the scale comes parallel linkage, a great boon in keeping the head level, but it does add weight, as does having a telescopic second arm which extends the reach while still retaining the ability to work close to the tractor.

Slew also greatly increases the versatility of the machine, allowing cutting behind the tractor, or any angle other than 90° to the tractor's direction of travel.

To further ease the strain on operators, arms with a forward reach are a popular choice. These, to a great extent, replace the mid-mounted machines which are no longer viable due to fuel tanks now being slung where they would have traditionally been attached to the tractor.

Another item which will affect price at the budget end of the range is control method.

There are three methods available, the original cable activation of the valves; oil over oil, in which a low pressure oil system instead of a cable is used, keeping high pressure hoses out of the cab.

The final method is via electrical signal and solenoid, using a joystick.

This latter not only eases the drivers workload but the valves are proportional, allowing more precise control of the head during work.

The cable version is the cheapest, usually with oil over oil as an option, and as one progresses up the range, it is only the joystick control available on the more professional machines.

The manner in which a hedge-trimmer is attached to the tractor may also affect the purchasing decision. The larger, heavy duty units will often have a bracket arrangement securing them to the rear axle of the tractor.

This provides the most secure mounting and relieves the rear casting of the tractor of excess stress, yet it can be a awkward and slow to take off it when wanting to use the tractor on other duties.

However, modern tractors will often have air reservoirs or other components bolted on where the bracket would normally fit, making it difficult to attach. The three-point linkage is still an option on models up to the 6m Falcon.

Like all machinery types, hedge-cutters have undergone an accelerated evolution as modern design and manufacturing processes have allowed a wider range of machines to be produced at an economic level.

On the plus side, this does allow a greater choice; on the downside, that choice can, at times, be somewhat bewildering.

Where hedge-cutters are concerned, the two main priorities, other than budget, are the tractor size available and the amount of work to be done, which is intrinsically linked to he amount of time available to do it.

Using these two considerations as a guide Bomford is confident that it offers a machine that will suit the requirements of all farmers and contractors looking to buy a well built product.